I’ve been pretty good about cooking my meals lately and have been on a non-meat recipe kick. The last few days I’ve amused myself with Otsu, a Japanese buckwheat noodle dish accompanied by simply sauteed asparagus. I’m a newfound lover of asparagus whose only flaw is the resulting wee wee stink. It won’t keep me from trying out some awesome recipes I found using this delectable spring veggie though.

Yesterday was a full day. Work was busy from unpacking and organizing our new studio and afterwards I headed straight to Atlas Cafe and blogged on and on about Tucker, came home at 10 and jogged my way around Greenpoint whilst chatting with my cousin, showered and cooked up this meal to savor the next day. I have cans of chickpeas left over from catering and a bag of dried ones still waiting for use. I’ve forgotten to soak the dry ones overnight so I used the canned chickpeas to make this salad found on 101 cookbooks. It’s a super simple reciple that pan fries chickpeas in coconut oil with chopepd leeks, cilantro, and lemon zest which is then mixed with a yogurt curry sauce that ended up bursting will all different sorts of flavors. It was tangy from the yogurt, spicy from the curry, crunchy from the leeks, and mushy from the peas. It was zany from the lemons and cilantro and was so gratifying that I almost didn’t save enough for next day’s lunch. I admit it tastes much better warm then cold as I experienced it was duller today than last night. I’ve omitted the onions and added 2 teaspoons of curry powder which probably made it stronger than recommended. It was delicious and healthy nonetheless.

I’ve been suffering from a sever seasonal allergy infection the last 2 days with my nose, head and chest stuffed to the brim. I’ve been sneezing non-stop for the last few weeks and have never experienced seasonal allergies this bad. I know it’s not the flu (swine or not) because the nose is running clear rather than thick and yellow. I detest the idea of taking medicine fearing side effects of drowsiness and restlessness that takes body control out of my hands. Friends have neen uber helpful in suggesting all sorts of medicines but I’m determined to stick it out. But I’m scared. Very scared. I can’t handle not being healthy and its foolish that I don’t care of my body better with smoking and what not. Let us pray that this minor illness drifts away soon as I’ve got a weekend full of baking and socializing.